Grocery and inventory Tracking

Hey guys,

Keeping track of what you have in your kitchen is key to saving money when grocery shopping and meal planning.

I've been cooking in my own kitchen for quite sometime, since 2005 when I was living alone in collage, while I don’t consider myself old, thank you very much, I guess I’ve spent a good amount of time in the kitchen.

Even before I moved away from home, the kitchen was one of my favorite places. Whether I was baking with my grandmother or helping my mom prep dinner for our large family, the kitchen was my happy place. And over time, my freezer has become one of my most beloved possessions.

The Freezer:

The home freezer, that miraculous invention of the 1940s, it’s been a tool to help me save time, money, and to have a bit more peace of mind. Over the years my home freezer has served me well. Here’s why.

1. I save time.

Through freezer cooking, I can stash a variety of home cooked meals and meal components to enjoy at a later date. Currently I have batches of taco meat, bags of cooked chicken, and bags of marinated chicken. These will make some great, quick meals in the month to come, saving me a ton of time, shopping and cooking.

2. I save money.

Buying and cooking in bulk can save me a bundle, in part thanks to lower per unit costs on bulk items, but also because we don’t eat out when we have meals ready to go. Freezer cooking helps our family eat well – at home — and spend less. In addition to my homemade meals, I use the freezer to help me stockpile good deals that I see, that might be a great sale on chicken breast. My freezer helps me load up on the items we know we’ll use but don’t want to pay full pop for later on when we have a craving for grilled chicken.

3. I have more peace of mind.

I do feel better when I know we’ve got food in the house. My freezer is my faithful friend in the kitchen. It helps me feed my family well on a budget and pinch hits on dinner whenever I need it to.

How to make it work?

Whether you have an itty-bitty fridge freezer or a large deep freeze, it doesn’t help you a whole lot if you don’t know what you have. Often we forget about something so long that we end up chucking it.

Over the years, I’ve learned how to keep a freezer inventory that works for me. It’s pretty simple and involves zero technology. Sure, there are a few apps out there that will help you keep a kitchen inventory, but I find the pen easier than the keypad.

All you need is a piece of paper, a pen, and a few minutes of your time.

1. List everything you have in the freezer.

Sometimes it helps to pull things out. Organize while you’re in there, stacking like with like, if you can.

2. Count how many you have of each item and tick ins and outs of the freezer. 

These ticks represent each individual item.You’re basically communicating to yourself and the other cooks in the household the identity and size of every inhabitant in your freezer. So you know what's left in your freezer stockpile.

3. Each time you take something out of the freezer, mark it.

Make sure to ask/insist that the other cooks do the same.

4. Consult your inventory.

Check in when you do your meal plan for the week and definitely before you go shopping.

 Check the free printable of the freezer inventory

The Pantry:

A pantry is a room where beverages, food, and sometimes dishes, household cleaning chemicals, linens, or provisions are stored.

What you need to start your pantry:

It's all up to you and your preference, although there are a few essentials for any pantry, I provided you with the common Pantry Foods and their shelf life, check them out.

Check the free printable categorized grocery shopping list.

Why Pantries are so important in every house?

Keeping extra food in the house is important to me for many reasons:

1. My family feels secure knowing there is always food in the house.
2. I can stock up on key ingredients when food is on sale. Real food on a budget.
3. I have plenty of food around to create last-minute meals, which cuts down on fast food runs. A weekly meal planning is preferable.
4. In case of emergency (natural disaster, illness, job loss, etc.) we would have food on hand.
5. I hardly ever have to make a spur-of-the-moment store run, because I have plenty of food on hand and I can make substitutions to use what I have.

Check the free printable of the pantry inventory.

The Fridge:

To refrigerate or not to refrigerate, that is the question.

Okay, so maybe Hamlet didn't say those exact words, but it's certainly a topic many have pondered.

The FDA recommends refrigerating or freezing perishable foods right away. Meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and certain kinds of produce should never be kept at room temperature for more than two hours, or not more than one hour if the temperature is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. But what about other foods?

Eggs - Yes: You should always refrigerate eggs to prevent the risk of infection from salmonella bacteria.

Butter - Optional : It's recommended to refrigerate butter, and freezing butter if you're not going to use it within one to two days. But many people keep butter in a covered dish outside the fridge. Since it's made from pasteurized milk, it's less likely to grow bacteria.

Tomatoes - No: If tomatoes are kept in the fridge, they lose their flavor. That's because the cold air stops them from ripening and breaks down their cell membranes, giving the fruit that characteristic mealy taste.

Cheese - Yes: Some kinds of cheese, especially soft cheeses such as brie or ricotta, should always be refrigerated. Others, such as pasteurized or aged cheeses like Parmesan, may not need to be refrigerated (but consult package instructions).

The shelf life of refrigerated and freezed of other foods will be found in this list.

Check the free printable of the fridge inventory.


I hope you liked this post. Please give me feedback and share with me your tips on inventory tracking.
 

How work smarter not harder?

 Hay guys,

A major problem for most people is having too much work and not enough time to do it. One solution: fine-tuning your time-management skills. By using your working hours more efficiently, you attack stress on several fronts:
 

• You’ll feel more in control, be more productive and more secure in your job.
• You’ll get greater satisfaction from what you do.
• You’ll give yourself more time to relax and enjoy life.

No matter how you juggle your schedule, the number of hours in the day will always remain the same. But it is possible to adjust your habits to buy more time for the things that matter most.

 1. Walk away

Walking away from a complex task might seem counterintuitive, but breaks can actually make you more productive. Removing yourself from the work environment immediately reduces stress and gives your brain a chance to “catch up.” If you’re working on a hard problem, your subconscious mind will continue working on it even if your conscious mind is trying to relax—which is why sometimes, solutions magically pop into your mind when you aren’t thinking about the problem. Either way, you’ll come back refreshed and in a healthier, more focused mental state for work.

2. Create routine habits.

 Habits happen naturally after they’re formed—they become a ritual, something you can slip into automatically, something you don’t even have to think about. For example, if you have to update an editorial calendar every day, make it an unconscious habit, sparing you the necessity of remembering it in a desperate scramble. Forming habits is the hard part—a good rule of thumb is to force yourself to commit the action every day, with no breaks from the routine, until it comes naturally.

3. Take more breaks. 

On average, your brain is able to remain focused for only 90 minutes, and then you need at least 15 minutes of rest. By taking breaks roughly every 90 minutes, you allow your mind and body to renew--and be ready to fire off another 90-minute period of high activity.
For some people, 15- to 20-minute breaks might be tough to pull off, but taking short breaks throughout the day can still help you to refresh your mind and reset your attention span.

4. Make a “to don’t” list.

Prepare a list that contains all the things you shouldn’t waste your time on – useless tasks, unnecessary meetings, worthless phone calls, and so on. Then place it next to your “to do” list.

5. Check your email first thing. 

This one is fairly counterintuitive; basically everyone says not to check email right away, but I do and find it extremely useful.
Dealing with important issues first thing helps you make quick decisions about whether your day needs to be adjusted to fit in with what everyone else is doing or whether you can proceed with the tasks you already had planned.

6. “Multitask” (not in the traditional sense).

 No matter how busy you are, there are always “negative spaces” in your day—and these gaps are when you should “multitask.” Try to fill the empty spaces with productive work: On your lunch break, watch a tutorial video or catch up on your emails. On your drive into work, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. During your workouts, catch up on some voicemails or watch a TED Talk. The more you learn and work in these negative spaces, the more you’ll get done overall.

7. Organize Throughout the Day

Remember this rule: Tuck it, transfer it or trash it. Quickly glance over every piece of mail and every memo or e-mail message you get. If it looks as if it’s potentially important, file it right away in a folder marked “pending” or delegate it to someone else to take care of. If it’s not relevant or it’s something you’ll never look at again, trash it. Handle your mail the same way at home.
 

8. Plan Ahead

Start your workday right—at home the night before. After dinner, pack your lunch for the next day, while you’re already in the kitchen. Lay out the kids’ clothes and your own and pack your briefcase. Then spend a pressure-free hour or more doing things you enjoy before bedtime.

9. Establish an opening ritual.

Try to begin your day the same way. If you work at home, maybe take a short walk before you go to your office. Have a cup of tea or read or meditate before starting your work. An opening ritual will ease your mind, body and soul into the day.

10. Guard your calendar.

Make sure your time is focused on your one or two top priorities. Ask yourself: “Is this how I want to be spending my time right now?” Remember: you are your calendar. So treat your calendar with respect.

What tips do you have for working smarter?

If you like this article, please check How to save $7897/year article.

13 Smart ways to deal with toxic people

Hey guys,

Do you have to deal with toxic people in your life, I do.

I will give you 13 ways to deal with them with no sweat, these ways have helped me since I was 17, when I figured them out, some of them I have retained through life and personal experience, some were given to me as an advice from people I look up to ,either way I feel these will help you as they helped me ALOT.

1. Respect Yourself

Don’t enable others to take advantage of you by making excuses for them. The more you value yourself, the less time you spend with people who don’t value you. If you make excuses to spend time with toxic people, you might have to evaluate some of your own issues. You might be dealing with a lack of self-esteem, which is attracting others of the same nature.

2. Restrain Yourself

While you may find it incredibly easy to chop down the lies and baggage that toxic people pile on, restrain yourself from getting involved. It isn't necessary to validate anything that is being questioned because you know the truth.

3.  Establish Boundaries

 

This one may seem obvious, but it requires the most pro-activity. Just because you’re in a work or home environment, doesn’t mean you have to engage with that person. If it’s someone you’re very familiar with, like a spouse or co-worker, you probably have learned some of their behavior habits, which makes him or her more easily predictable. So, in the future, think rationally about when you need to engage and when you can walk away.

 

4. Raise Your Positivity Levels

 

Toxic people are very negative and like to spread negativity amongst the people that they encounter. The saying that misery loves company is very true. When you encounter toxic people, do your best to raise your positivity levels and list the reasons why your life is worthy of more.

5. Stay Aware of Your Emotions

Maintaining an emotional distance requires awareness. You can’t stop someone from pushing your buttons if you don’t recognize when it’s happening.  Think of it this way—if a mentally unstable person approaches you on the street and tells you he’s John F. Kennedy, you’re unlikely to set him straight. When you find yourself with a coworker who is engaged in similarly derailed thinking, sometimes it’s best to just smile and nod. If you’re going to have to straighten them out, it’s better to give yourself some time to plan the best way to go about it.

6. Don’t Focus on Problems - Only Solutions

When it comes to toxic people, fixating on how crazy and difficult they are gives them power over you. Quit thinking about how troubling your difficult person is, and focus instead on how you’re going to go about handling them. This makes you more effective by putting you in control, and it will reduce the amount of stress you experience when interacting with them.

7. Understand that toxic people are in pain.

No person who hurts others is happy with themselves. By verbally beating others up, toxic people actually batter their own selves. Their external toxicity is the symbol of how they treat themselves. The pain you feel after their remarks is lesser than the pain and misery they have to live with every hour of their lives. Be compassionate, therefore; this kind of understanding and attitude will help you to be less affected by their words and actions.

8. Develop A Support System

You shouldn’t have to go at it alone. Besides, gaining outside perspective is always a good idea. Sometimes even simply talking out the situation with someone can foster a solution to your lingering problem. Someone might be able to see a solution that you can’t because they are not as emotionally invested.

9. Avoid arguments.

Trust me, toxic people are experts in arguments. They will quickly bring you down if you attempt to over-smart them with arguments.

10. Be Yourself.

Don't be tempted to bend the rules or change who you are as an individual. Always be yourself and be proud of it. Own it! Never shy away from what you believe in and do not allow others to make you feel less than who you are.

11. Busy yourself.

Make yourself seem too busy to give them your time. Keep finding ways to get busy and keep excusing yourself from having to talk to them. You can even make it obvious that it’s an excuse, for they don’t value your time anyway so you shouldn’t care if it’s an urgent business or not.

12. Have Patience

Patience really is a virtue and moreover it's an attribute that you must have when dealing with difficult people. Stay calm and do not get overly emotional. With patience comes wisdom.

13. Pray

Seek comfort in prayer. Pray for your ability to restrain from adding to the toxicity and pray for the people who feel the need to bring misery upon themselves and others. It's easy to write people off but it's important that you pray for them - as there may be a deeper underlying issue.

Finally, I hope you found these advice helpful, and somewhat assuring that everything is going to be okay in end.

 

Please tell me in the comment down below if there are special topics you want me to cover here in Aseel's corner, I'll appreciate it. Thank you.

How to help your husband with his anger?

Hey guys,

Today's topic is all about dealing with angry husbands. Marriage is no walk in the park, and everyone who's about to get married should expect the worse, when you meet someone they'll try to show you their best side, there is a hidden side you never knew about, so be ready.

More than anything, your husband needs to know that you’re on his side, that you’re not against him. You need to communicate, more than you probably think necessary, that you accept him and love him, even though you may not be satisfied with some of his behaviors or responses. Separate the actions from the man; affirm the man. His search for peace may begin sooner if he knows that you’re satisfied with him and willing to walk through the steps of healing.
 

• Be His Friend, Not His Mother

 He needs a friend who’ll treat him, and insist on being treated by him, as an equal. He needs a friend who’ll gladly share life’s responsibilities with him but not live his life for him, someone who’ll encourage him in his problem solving but not solve all of his problems for him.
If you find yourself playing a mothering role to the man in your life, he will never fully deal with the causes and crisis of his anger. The scared little boy will whine and fuss until you make it all better. You can transition from mother to friend in his life by lovingly placing in his hands those responsibilities and problems that he should deal with.

• Appreciate Him; Don’t Nag Him

It’s estimated that upwards of 90 percent of men today are unhappy and angry in their jobs to some degree. Most of them feel fortunate to be working, but they often languish in their dead-end jobs

 Nagging him to buck for promotions or beg for raises may only intensify his anger. Bugging him for a bigger house or newer car will only deepen his frustration that he has no more control at home than he has on the job. But if you become a wellspring of appreciation for the work that he does and the living he provides, you will lift some of the pressure from his life. Find many ways to say, “I appreciate that you work hard at your job and that you hang in there even when it’s frustrating and tough. I couldn’t love you more if you owned the whole company.”

• Affirm Him; Don’t Criticize Him

If your man is struggling with being locked into a job that’s distasteful to him, you can ease his struggle by affirming him for who he is and what he does. Compliment him for the character qualities he exercises (or needs to exercise) in his job: patience, perseverance, determination, creativity, etc. In everything you say and do, let him know that he’s the best taco maker (or pump jockey, accountant, construction worker, sanitation engineer, etc.) in the world. Appreciate him for the effort.

• Give Him Space; Don’t Crowd Him

Most of us don’t like to be pushed, especially men. It’s an affront to their struggling masculinity and only serves to exacerbate their anger. They feel intimidated because their wives can’t accept them the way they are. They feel inferior in comparison to the ideal man their wives are badgering them to become.

Give your husband plenty of room. Show him that you’re concerned about him and that you love him. Let him know that you’re available to listen to him and talk to him. Then back off to pray and wait. Trust God to work for your man’s good in the situation. Allow him to use “the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Peter 3:4) in you to encourage and help him.

• Give Him Time; Don’t Rush Him

We live in an age of instant gratification. We can travel thousands of miles in hours; we can transact business in seconds with our high-speed computers, cell phones, and cable shopping channels. We hate to wait. This subconscious urgency we all share for fast results may get in the way, however, when it comes to the process of helping a man defuse his anger. Change doesn’t take place overnight. It may take your husband weeks, months, or years to fully heal from the causes and results of anger in his life.

• Hold Him Responsible; Don’t Be Co-dependent

If your husband’s anger gets him into trouble in any way, you are not responsible to cover for him or take the rap for him. Doing so only allows the problem to continue; it never stops the problem. Only when we allow someone to face the consequences of his behavior will he begin to see that he’s responsible for making changes in the way he behaves.

• Give to Him; Don’t Withhold from Him

If your husband is in the process of dealing with expressions of anger that have been hurtful to you in some way, you may be tempted to say something like, “Once you get your act together, then I’ll start being the wife I should be.” You may feel like withholding affection or sex from him until he deserves it. You may feel like asking him to move out until he has better control of his temper or habits. Or he may have troubled you so much that you’re ready to give up.

While there are a few occasions when a temporary separation may be necessary (such as when his uncontrolled rage is endangering you or the children), you can probably be more helpful to your man’s healing by staying with him. Love, forgiveness, and acceptance are qualities to be given freely, not to be held hostage for ransom. He needs your friendship, not your judgment.
God will use your openness, kindness, and willingness to go the second mile to aid in his healing.

What are your ways of dealing with your angry husband?

How to save $7897/year?

Hay guys,

So the ultimate question of all times is how to save money every day?

I'll be telling you some hacks and tips on how you can save money everyday and cut a great amount of money that goes out of your wallet annually.

• Save money on the cost of caffeine.

Brew at home and save $946/year. That's 91% cheaper than buying coffee.

• Dry clean: Time to wear.

Do it yourself and save $133/year. That's 89% cheaper than the dry cleaner.

• It's always cool to carpool.

Ride together and save $988/year. That's 75% cheaper than driving.

• Have to forage to pay the mortgage?

Refinance and save up to $3156/year. That's 16% cheaper

• Washing in hot is costing a lot.

Wash cold saves $87/year. That's 93% cheaper than washing hot.

• Does the gym leave your wallet slim?

Exercise at home and save $520/year. That's 79% cheaper than the gym.

• Cost to smoke will leave you broke.

Quit smoking and save $708/year. That's 66% cheaper than smoking.

• Is eating lunch costing you a bunch?

Eat in and save $1144/year. That's 60% cheaper than eating out.

• Stop being coddled by bottled water.

Buying home filter and save $205/year.

 

These were nine money saving tips to help you collect the extra money at the end of the year. Follow these tips and save $7897. Remember it's never too late to start saving money.

I hope these tips were helpful and valuable, Because you can't put a price tag on a piece of advice. Please tell me what was your favorite tip, and what is your personal tip on saving money?

BYE!!